“What do you think now?”

“Well, I—­I’m sure I don’t quite know what to think, but I reckon that one of them did half of the kick and the other one did the other half.”

Somebody in the crowd sung out:  “It’s the first sane thing that any of them has said.”

The audience applauded.  The judge said:  “Silence! or I will clear the court.”

Mr. Allen looked pleased, but Wilson did not seem disturbed.  He said: 

“Mr. Rogers, you have favored us with what you think and what you reckon, but as thinking and reckoning are not evidence, I will now give you a chance to come out with something positive, one way or the other, and shall require you to produce it.  I will ask the accused to stand up and repeat the phenomenal kick of last night.”  The twins stood up.  “Now, Mr. Rogers, please stand behind them.”

A Voice:  “No, stand in front!” (Laughter.  Silenced by the court.) Another Voice:  “No, give Tommy another highst!” (Laughter.  Sharply rebuked by the court.)

“Now, then, Mr. Rogers, two kicks shall be delivered, one after the other, and I give you my word that at least one of the two shall be delivered by one of the twins alone, without the slightest assistance from his brother.  Watch sharply, for you have of to render a decision without any if’s and ands it.”  Rogers bent himself behind the twins with palms just above his knees, in the modern attitude of the catcher at a baseball match, and riveted eyes on the pair of legs in front of him.

“Are you ready, Mr. Rogers?”

“Ready sir.”

The kick, launched.

“Have you got that one classified, Mr. Rogers?”

“Let me study a minute, sir.”

“Take as much time as you please.  Let me know when you are ready.”

For as much as a minute Rogers pondered, with all eyes and a breathless interest fastened upon him.  Then he gave the word:  “Ready, sir.”

“Kick!”

The kick that followed was an exact duplicate of the first one.

“Now, then, Mr. Rogers, one of those kicks was an individual kick, not a mutual one.  You will now state positively which was the mutual one.”

The witness said, with a crestfallen look: 

“I’ve got to give it up.  There ain’t any man in the world that could tell t’other from which, sir.”

“Do you still assert that last night’s kick was a mutual kick?”

“Indeed, I don’t, sir.”

“That will do, Mr. Rogers.  If my brother Allen desires to address the court, your honor, very well; but as far as I am concerned I am ready to let the case be at once delivered into the hands of this intelligent jury without comment.”

Mr. Justice Robinson had been in office only two months, and in that short time had not had many cases to try, of course.  He had no knowledge of laws and courts except what he had picked up since he came into office.  He was a sore trouble to the lawyers, for his rulings were pretty eccentric sometimes, and he stood by them with Roman simplicity and fortitude; but the people were well satisfied with him, for they saw that his intentions were always right, that he was entirely impartial, and that he usually made up in good sense what he lacked in technique, so to speak.  He now perceived that there was likely to be a miscarriage of justice here, and he rose to the occasion.